Sunday, a sailing yacht carrying two persons sank in the Strait of Gibraltar after an undetermined number of orcas slammed into the vessel and caused a water leak, according to officials.
According to Spain’s maritime rescue service, a passing oil tanker rescued both crew members, the most recent in a series of attacks on vessels by killer whales that have become routine in recent years.
The incident occurred at approximately 9:00 a.m. local time in the narrow strait connecting Spain and Morocco, which has gained notoriety for human encounters with colonies of killer whales that occasionally capsize on vessels and even sink them for reasons that remain unknown.
Crew members of the SV Alboran Cognac issued an evacuation request after encountering orcas approximately 14 miles from the coast of Cape Spartel in this instance.
The crew members reported experiencing impacts to the vessel’s hull and rudder, both of which the whales damaged, according to the rescue service.
On the Spanish side of the Strait of Gibraltar, in Tarifa, the coordination center of the organization assisted in organizing their evacuation aboard the tanker MT Lascaux.
The crew members were rescued from the submerging yacht by the tanker within an hour, and they alighted in Gibraltar prior to 10:30 a.m. Subsequent to their abandonment, the SV Alboran Cognac vanished entirely into the ocean.
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